Abstract

This study uses the Kitāb fadā'il al-shām wa-dimashq (The Book of the Virtues of Syria and Damascus) of 'Alīibn Muhammad al-Raba'ī (d. 1052) as an archive of Muslim traditions about Syria's sacred status that were circulated throughout the early Islamic period (seventh to eleventh centuries). In order to make the claims in these traditions believable, the early Muslim scholars who circulated them invoked both explicit textual authorities and implicit rhetorical techniques. The methods by which these early Muslims claimed Syria as sacred space are briefly compared to strategies used in medieval Europe.